Today, Jesse shares some financial lessons from humble beginnings. There’s much to learn from his first entrepreneurial endeavor: a baseball concession stand. Then, Andrew Giancola joins the pod to share his “Hero’s Journey,” from a bottom point where he found himself unable to afford a fill-up of gasoline. Andrew has thoughts about peoples’ biggest problem with money, about opportunity costs we all face, and whether you should rent or buy your next home. Thanks for joining us today on The Best Interest.

Key Takeaways and Timestamps:

(0:00:44) - Jesse shares a story from his early financial life about starting a concession stand business as a kid to earn money to buy a computer game.

(0:09:31) - Jesse shares about his first job cleaning bathrooms and cabins at a state park for minimum wage.

(0:13:30) - Brief ad break.

(0:14:32) - Andrew Giancola, host of The Personal Finance Podcast, joins the show.

(0:15:23) - Andrew shares his “Hero Story” of living paycheck to paycheck after college and having an "a-ha" moment when he couldn't afford to fill up his gas tank.

(0:18:25) - Andrew reflects that changing his money mindset and psychology was the biggest factor in learning to manage his money properly.

(0:19:45) - Andrew discusses working one-on-one with clients, focusing on identifying their biggest problems and goals around money.

(0:21:40) - Andrew shares a story about starting a side business selling Christmas trees and learning entrepreneurial lessons from it.

(0:23:20) - Trying new ventures, seeing what works, and not being afraid to abandon things that aren't working.

(0:24:43) - The importance of evaluating opportunity costs in building wealth.

(0:28:14) - Tactics for evaluating non-monetary opportunity costs like time with family.

(0:28:50) - Brief ad break.

(0:29:04) -The first $100k is the hardest to accumulate because it relies more on savings rate versus investment returns. Once you hit $100k, compound interest accelerates wealth building.

(0:33:08) - The importance of calculating total cost of homeownership before deciding whether to buy or rent.

(0:35:05) - While homeownership can make sense, a house shouldn't be viewed primarily as an investment.

Mentions:

The Millionaire Next Door:

https://amzn.to/3FKFfme

More of Andrew:

🌐 Website: https://mastermoney.co/

🎙️ Podcast: https://mastermoney.co/podcast/

More of The Best Interest:

Check out the Best Interest Blog at bestinterest.blog

Contact me at jesse@bestinterest.blog

The Best Interest Podcast is a personal podcast meant for educational and entertainment. It should not be taken as financial advice, and is not prescriptive of your financial situation.

President Autopen | (Ep. 382)